The Same Across Time
by liuli-xia
Summary: An image of the past woman flashed in front of his eyes and he wondered to himself how two women so far apart in time could be exactly the same. "One more drink, then I swear that I'm goin' home. Truth is that I don't really have a place to go."


_I read stories that talk about the similarities between the Sannins and their students, but they're almost always focusing on the relationships between the students and between the Sannins, and how the students refuse to be like their teachers. So I decided to show how scarily similar Tsunade and Sakura are in a different situation._

_The idea for this actually came to me while listening to Pour me by Hollywood Undead._

_Hope you guys like it._

_**Disclaimer: I own only the plot, the bar, and the bartender. That's all.**_

A lone woman sat in the bar, half-empty bottle of sake in hand and a frown on her face. Three other bottles lay on the table, completely drained of their pain-numbing contents. Dull jade eyes raked lazily over the room before throwing back her head and draining yet another bottle. The old bartender looked at the broken woman in front of him sadly. He recognized the lost look hidden behind the alcohol-induced glaze in her eyes. He had seen many like her roll on through, stopping by to try to forget, if just for a night.

The pink-haired woman reminded him of a blond that had wandered into his bar many years earlier, same lost look in her eyes but more empty bottles had littered his counter that night. Then again, the broken blond had been there longer at the time. And judging from the look of the pinkette, she would too. The man sighed to himself, knowing full well just what could turn an innocent young child into such a lonely, lost and haunted being. After all, he never forgot a customer, not even the one-timers.

She raised her lost eyes to his and he smiled sadly, obliging her silent plea. He reached under the counter and pulled out another bottle. In the back of his mind, he remembers that the blond was the only other person who drank that particular brand. Handing it over to the woman in front of him, he couldn't help but notice their similarities.

Both women had haunted, dulled, lost and lonely eyes as they dragged themselves into his bar close to midnight, asking for a specific brand as they collapsed on a chair at the bar. The few patrons in the bar on both nights had thrown them glances of unwanted sympathy as the bar slowly emptied of all patrons except the women.

While washing a few glasses, he remembered that the blond had had hazel eyes and hair pulled into two low pigtails. Her Konoha headband, by the end of the night, was lying haphazardly by her arm. She hardly made any sounds, except for few and far in between mournful chuckles that would bring her to the verge of tears. Her green jounin vest was later discarded and she sat in her black cargo pants and shirt.

"_He left me, again," she mumbled, nursing the bottle in her hand. "I wasn't good enough. I- I couldn't do anything. So weak. Why am I so weak? Maybe, maybe he would come back for good if I left, so wouldn't have to see someone worthless. Guess he didn't want to stay around someone weak like me."_

By her seventh bottle, the blond had begun to lose herself to the intoxication. Really, he should have stopped her but he could tell she needed a reprieve from whatever painful demons were haunting the poor woman. He let her stay well past his closing hours, offering her his silent company. She ended up leaving around five in the morning.

Now, many years later, a pink-haired kunoichi sat in front of him, the same way the blond had with the same drink. Unlike the blond, her hair was raggedy, ending at her shoulders, and had jade eyes, not hazel. Her own headband lay on the counter the exact same way the other woman's had. There was no vest for her to throw off, just a med-nin coat and a pack of essentials.

Seventh bottle in, she repeated the words from ages past, verbatim, and it struck a chord within him. For a moment, an image of the past woman flashed in front of his eyes and he wondered to himself how two women so far apart in time could be exactly the same. Maybe, this time around, he could do something but his thoughts ended there, because in the end, he could only bring himself to do nothing.

"Another, please." Their voices echo together in his head as the age-old words are repeated. "One more drink, then I swear that I'm goin' home." The two women, in sync over the space of time, chuckle together. "Truth is that I don't really have a place to go."

The old man just pulled out another bottle, then and now, and placed within reach of the two. He couldn't help but repeat the actions of fifty years ago as her served the broken woman before him. The same pattern continues on well into the early morning.

It's five in the morning, like the last time, when she slowly rises to her feet and gathers her things. She sways slightly before steadying herself and placing more than need be on the counter for her stay.

"What is your name, child?" _"…Tsunade." _"…Sakura."

As he watched her walk off into the early morning, again he wondered how two women, so far apart in time, could be exactly the same. Then he smiled to himself. The blond Tsunade had gone on to make herself into a legend. If this pink-haired woman is anything like her past counter-part… He only shook his head. No matter how great or legendary she would become, the shadows of guilt and doubt would still remain. One only had to look at the female Hokage to know the truth in the old bartender's thoughts.

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><p>AN: So depending on how you look at it, it could either be Oro/Tsu and Sasu/Saku or it's Jir/Tsu and Naru/Saku. I personally feel that it's the first one but I leave it open for interpretation. Maybe it's teacher/student for them.


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